Author's Notes: I know this has taken me longer than I said it would.
Certain obligations--as well as the adoption of the NGEN project have garnered my attention. But no need to fear, Author is here. Here you go, Chapter six, enjoy. In case you wonder, yes, the first scene was written to Eva-specific music, namely, "A moment when tension breaks".
Additional note: Horaki pilots 04, not 03.
Disclaimer: I don't own this, Gainax does. Happy?
Never Look Back -
Chapter Six: Appreciation
-----------------------
Sendai area.
Shinji stood in the kitchenette of the small first floor apartment, preparing ingredients for their evening meal. It was going to be something of an extravagance, considering Shinji called for many ingredients indeed. The occasion had been both their newfound affections for each other... and not a day later Shinji came across work as an office assistant in town, for a man named Kazuhiko who worked for Bakufu Publishing Co, a no name man who wrote textbooks. Even though it wasn't glamorous, it was stable work and the company would pay him fairly for it. When he announced this to Rei, she'd been quite pleased, and demonstrated it with a satisfied smile.
"You are now able to put the past behind you. This is now truly, moving on..." She commented distractedly, looking off into the evening sky, as they waited for the meal to finish cooking. It was stir fried vegetables, and for him, takoyaki. The smell of the food was appealing and served to lift her mood further.
"Well, maybe it...it isn't all that, but something like it, right?" he supplied rhetorically. The food was almost ready. He now felt a bit more comfortable in his new surroundings, though Rei provided little conversation. Their existence at home was filled primarily with quiet moments of contentment, even if it was at opposite sides of the room.
To be honest, Shinji felt a little embarrassed about his declaration of love for Rei. Such was to be expected, its suddenness and ferocity taking him by complete surprise. He didn't even try to guess how Rei felt about it. Thus the conversation the day before had not been mentioned, or referred to. However, it functioned to bring them closer together, into a more cohesive, attached partnership.
This moment was the most fragile, in human relations. How did one know when he or she would be able to interact in a certain fashion towards another individual? It was a difficult question to provide an answer for. Shinji found himself grasping at straws as to what came next.
Rei, on the other hand, did not know what direction to even grasp in, and thus, relied on Shinji for affirmation on her course of action. This amplified the clumsiness of their conversations and dealings, but it was of the adoring, shy and hesitant kind. None of it was unbearable. Rei was acutely aware of her primary deficiency: human relations. This, however, did not daunt her. She was steadfast, for this was perhaps the single most important endeavor in her life yet.
With the subtle hints of vegetables wafting through the air, and a warm breeze entering through an open window, the room became a welcoming nest for the two transients. Shinji, with a dumb, self-satisfied smile on his face, and Rei, looking on with amused intensity, perfected the emotional mosaic of this moment in time, isolated, consequences left away from mind--never did the expression" out of sight, out of mind," fit better. All was for once, as good as he could have imagined it, and for her, better than she ever knew was possible.
As Shinji brought forth the tray of food, Rei tilted her head sideways, and inquired earnestly to Shinji while he sank to a sitting position, "Is this.
what one could call, 'happiness', Shinji?"
Taken slightly by surprise, he couldn't help but smile faintly at that.
Sometimes--no, oftentimes--Rei was quite childlike. Her childlike sense of wonder at the world she was coming to appreciate filled him with adoration. he supposed it was a typical reaction for a male to think it cute, but to him, her serene, and innocent question was amusing, even if he didn't know how to answer correctly.
"Well, I don't know, Rei-chan," he began after a thoughtful pause. "I guess if it means you're satisfied with how things are, and you want them to be that way. It's like...there's the soft energy inside you that tells you it is the way something should be."
His success in the vagueness category was surpassed only by his verbose clumsiness. Rei blinked. "I do not quite understand you, though I surmise I can compare it to something."
Shinji reddened with embarrassment at his own incompetence, smiling sheepishly. "If you say so, Rei-chan...Ittadakimasu."
And so they ate, their lives feeling that much more whole within themselves as they fumbled for that fragile, unspoken bond nascent between them, a warm mist, enfolding them in security.
-
Bishaemon no Ten no Jinja Shrine,
Kyoto.
A shot rang out in the dark of the Kyoto night, nicking the ancient doorframe of an abandoned Shinto jinja. Woodchips soared into the air from the high-powered 50 cal round, splintering the spruce into fragments. Annoyed, one Kaji Ryoji fell backwards behind the cover of a large wall, urging himself along the corner, holding the grip of his modified Glock-17 with careful pressure.
"Well, Katsuragi, looks like the were on to us." he muttered, signaling that she should get ready to make good her escape. Easing around the corner he pulled back on the trigger of the full automatic and released a spray of rounds that bounced on the gravel and dug into body armor and old wood alike, unchecked. Just as promptly, however, the defender hid again, nanoseconds before a hail of answering ordinance, and the following thunder cracks. This time a particularly large fragment was blown away.
"A .223. Well, our guests certainly aren't being shy..." Kaji mused. They began to move towards the small fence not ten feet away, rushing to it and diving right over, Misato with a suitcase and her USP 9 millimeter semi-
Automatic pistol in hand. They absconded into the foliage in hurried movements, the unidentified attackers not the least bit willing to leave their tails.
Thankfully the car was not far away, hidden by shrubs. It was a rental, and hopefully, it wouldn't get damaged. At this point though, their lives were more important than Hertz's damages or fees. They piled into the car and hit the gas to the floor. The sporty two-seat roadster took off with gusto along a dirt path that by happenstance, was obviously little-used and in ill-
repaired, making for a bumpy ride.
The gunfight lasted for a good fifteen minutes before they were able to get that far, where the car was stashed. It was originally a trip to pick up information on SEELE's intents as well as any possible divisiveness within the clandestine organization. Their informant was apparently, being sold out as men with semi-automatic machine pistols began blowing away at arcane shrine, left to its devices after Second Impact. The informant wasn't as lucky as Misato or Kaji, and didn't make it out of there. Instead, she died tossing them the suitcase of documents they'd been there to pick up.
---------
Needless to say, they'd been compromised.
They got no chase once they drove into Kyoto proper. Yet instead of returning to their hotel, they got a room at another place in town, just to make sure.
"So much for secrecy," Misato griped over a Yebisu in the hotel room, as they now poured over the documents in earnest. According to these, arrangements had been made not only to set up the Marduk Agency, as affiliated by its hundred or so dummy partnerships, including one Shannon Bio Inc, whose board of trustees included none other than Ikari Gendo, Lorenz Kihi, and Fuyutsuki Kozo. "We really blew it."
Kaji disagreed. "Considering the results of our findings. We now know that the school classroom, code seven-zero-seven, has all of the potential candidates for pilots of Evangelion units. This of course means..."
"We're all being led by the nose. But...for what? Is it the Council on Instrumentality?" she asked in reply, putting a palm flat on a set of papers.
"I don't know yet, if the class has to do with anything. But, if the pilots are all available, why of course, go after Rei and Shinji?" he proposed the question while calmly lighting a cigarette and propping it into his mouth. The smoke from the lit tobacco product wafted from before his face, entered his lungs, and was purged as he gave a deep sigh. "The truth is so hard to get to...but...we both have obligations to it, ne, Katsuragi?"
Silently eyes askance, Misato recalled the escape capsule quite vividly, and imagined the scar on her chest very accurately. Yes, they did. It would always burn within her, the need for truth.
NERV, Central Dogma
"A sick day?!" Ritsuko sputtered, incredulous. She'd just put down the results and MAGI analysis for the latest synch-ratio test scores for pilots Soryu and Horaki, when she was confronted with the news of Misato's absence. "That...is a flimsy excuse for the Director of Operations and Planning."
Maya felt the urge to apologize, and did so. "I'm sorry, sempai, but that's what she said."
Sipping from a mug of coffee, a standard NERV issue white ceramic thing,
she closed her eyes in thought. They weren't even trying to hide it from the commander that they were second-guessing him. Was there a point to it? And most of all, why did the commander allow this?
Dissatisfied, Ritsuko decided to lodge a formal complaint as project director of research and development at Project E. She picked up her phone, asked the switchboard operator to get her the commander, and waited. After a ring, the phone was picked up.
"Yes. What is it?"
Ritsuko paused. "Sir, it's Akagi. I am filing an official complaint regarding Katsuragi---"
"It can wait," and following that smooth baritone was a sharp click, and then the chilling dial tone of defeat.
Akagi Ritsuko was left wallowing in her own disgust. Surely he couldn't be serious! Holding her coffee mug in a death-grip, she fumed. "How could he...Damn him!"
Office of the Supreme Commander NERV Central Dogma
"Have our agents successfully cleared the Kyoto site of opposing entities?"
asked Gendo quietly, his unwavering stare fixed on the sub-commander.
There had been some confusion initially, when he heard of Katsuragi's disappearance, but once he heard the double-agent was involved, he supposed to himself that he could allow it. It served a dual purpose--it deflected attention away from machinations here, and also harried SEELE. He could feel the feud growing stronger. No longer did they just trade barbs, but now bullets.
The coalitions that composed the fundaments of both the Committee on Human Instrumentality and SEELE, as well as NERV were never entirely stable. Certain interests governed each, and as with any conflicting interest, actual conflicts arose. For example, the Dummy Plug system was initially kept secret from the Old Men for specific purposes of allowing NERV-
then GEHRIM to conduct research on making a disposable interface for their new Evangelion unit. However, now well-known obstacles revealed themselves and the effort at secrecy was rendered futile. Now even more fundamental differences divided them. At best, SEELE trusted Ikari's common sense, while Ikari counted on SEELE's sense of foresight.
"Yes sir, though we were unable to capture any of them alive. Trace amounts of cyanide were found in their dental cavities." Fuyutsuki reported. The entire fiasco at Kyoto was a bit appalling. He'd expected some sort of showdown with SEELE for some time now, but not like this.
"Suicide? Hmm. Now, sensei, we see how the Old Men react."
---
In the darkness, a monolith spoke.
"We cannot let them go unchecked. Let our ire be known, and let them repent. Then they will come back, and cease to bite the hand which feeds."
"For the completion of humanity!" chimed the other eleven members of the organization only known as SEELE, dropping their guise as the Committee on this matter.
Lorenz Kihi, still incensed, sat behind his 'SOUND ONLY' monolith and smiled derisively. Yes, Ikari-kun would soon understand the relationship between master and apprentice.
NERV Central Dogma Control Deck
"Alright. Procedure point 2550 reached. Over." Dr. Akagi Ritsuko announced, as she watched the camera feed from the EVA cages. Units 02 and 04 were now active, and exerting AT fields. The red and white units respectively were now ready for the test launch. As per routine, most parts of NERV's operational equipment needed to be tested not only for safety but operational status. The most vital of these were the launch systems, and namely, the most complex, the launch elevator.
"Moving to tracks one and two, ma'am." Horaki Hikari informed from within her entry plug, as Unit 04 lurched forward gracelessly, then, with better footing, easily made its way alongside Asuka's Unit 02 to track two.
"Unit 02 reporting, Dr. Akagi! I'm ready, so launch this thing so we can all go home." Asuka sighed, wishing she were doing something besides running a systems test. Unfortunately, because of some dumbkpoff the only way to test the launch tracks was by actually launching into one of the hollow ammunition-or-mech towers cleverly disguised as an armored office building. It wasn't the most…nondescript place, but measures did indeed have to be taken.
"Operator...this is Akagi. Launch, tracks one and two...now!" Ritsuko ordered. This job would normally fall under Misato, but the woman still wasn't back.
With a sharp click of releasing clamps and a whirr of motors switching mag-lev lines, the two massive Evangelions were bodily lifted off their moorings and propelled by the mag-lev platforms all the way up the route towards the surface. This caused both pilots to experience three or four g's of acceleration, quite the sensation if one wasn't used to it.
Seconds later they hit the surface with a resounding thud. Hikari checked her visuals, and saw she was inside the building. "Horaki here. Inside the launcher, system check successful for track two. Prepped for descent."
Below, in the Geofront, Ritsuko was about to give the order to lower the Evangelion units when everything suddenly went dark. For a moment, she waited for the redundant power systems to kick in...And then, to her disbelief, was left still standing in relative shadow. "What in the world?"
Looking around, she couldn't hesitate. "Power failure? Check the second and third emergency generators!"
Aoba was quick to reply, and shouted, "No use, we've got nothing working except roughly three percent of our circuits!"
"Phones are dead, ma'am!" Hyuga called out, slamming his receiver down in frustration.
"Reroute all functioning circuit energy to life support systems!" Ritsuko commanded, but was overridden when the Commander interjected.
"Belay that, Dr. Akagi. Concern yourself with protecting the MAGI." he said coolly from his vantage point on the top tier of the NERV Central Dogma command bridge. Behind him, Fuyutsuki stood stoically, lighting a candle.
"Hai!" Ritsuko relayed the order to her subordinates. "And someone,
recover those Eva units!"
Above Ground
"Damn this. I knew this test was going to take long!" Asuka complained,
and not without reason. They'd been in the entry plug an hour before they launched for the surface, now this. And their power, for some reason, was cut. "Meine Gott in Himmel, what's taking them so long?"
Hikari, inherently more patient, was taking the middle path. Yes, she was annoyed, but she couldn't do much. "Is this a recurring event, Asuka?"
"No..." Asuka admitted. In point of fact, the technicians ran a very tight ship in NERV and she was more than obliged to give credit where it was due this time. However, that modicum of peaceful praise didn't last long, as they began to feel tremors in the ground. They were small at first, nothing but a mere vibration, easily associable with the platform. However, it grew intensity until it was a rhythmic shaking, and then, a solid quake every so often.
"What the?" Asuka muttered, her power nearing the one-minute line.
Dislodging herself from the launch building restraints, she stepped out, peering around the building to see a long, multi-legged creature approaching the outskirts of the city with methodical determination. Just as quickly, she ducked behind the building. "Damn! An angel, now?"
"An Angel, Asuka? You saw one?" Hikari asked, from a few hundred meters south. "There wasn't an alert..."
"Well obviously something is wrong downstairs. We have to stop it, Hikari.
I can't raise NERV on my communications link. We should assume no orders." Asuka concluded, jaded. "It's already in the city. I'm nearing my activation limit, in twenty seconds. You're the only one that can actually do this...Good luck, okay? Don't get yourself killed."
Hikari noted the slight shame in which Asuka was speaking from. Asuka would have to let her friend, the newbie, take out the Angel on her own-
-at great risk, but without Asuka doing it--because of her S2 engine.
"Understood Asuka. Stay here in the building so you can get recovered."
Pushing back her dark brown locks, the freckled class representative gritted her teeth and took stock of her situation. There were several hundred meters between her and the Angel. NERV was directly below, and all she was armed with was a prog'knife. Better that than nothing.
Jumping from behind the cover of the building, Hikari gave the landscape a quick survey. The Angel, arachnid in shape, was closing in on the heart of Tokyo-3. This was unacceptable. Its long legs easily gave it mobility, but it lurched in such a way that it was cumbersome to attack. So it would indeed be melee.
"Unit 04, attacking!" She yelled as she began to run with the white-plated Evangelion unit. Her fleet footsteps rocked the city and made large dents in the pavement of the street she plowed through. The Angel it seemed, was single-mindedly approaching its target. However, it took notice soon after.
A leg raised itself and pointed in the direction of Unit-04 just as Hikari withdrew the prog'knife and activated it, nearly in range. Subsequently she received a kick to the chest, and was pinned to the ground. The Angel began to rove over her, pressing its advantage. Soon Hikari could see it's tearing, orange and blue eye.
Even as she suppressed a cry of agony, hot, acidic viscous liquid poured over her unit, sending sensations of pain across her arms and torso. She whimpered. But, she had to endure. Even as smoke arose from the scalding liquid, she grit her teeth, readying herself.
The same leg rose itself quickly and pounded down hard on the center of 04, causing another cry. This continued until, at last, seizing her opportunity, Hikari rolled quickly as the leg came down, avoiding it. Then, with a spur of pain-filled energy and willpower, she bull rushed the Angel from underneath, and activated the defense spikes.
The large fifteen-to-twenty foot titanium alloyed spikes tore through the Angel--whose AT field was neutralized--and stunned it. Even as the damage was dealt, it felt itself losing balance, and being toppled onto its 'back'. Not soon after a sensation of pain would be felt inside it, probably, as Horaki's prog'knife dove into the central eye portion, pushing deeper and deeper towards the core.
After a minute of frantic leg-thrashing and Hikari's agonized calls, the prog'knife finally ate away at the last layer and sawed into the S2 core of the Angel, effectively silencing it.
Slumping her unit, Hikari exhaled heavily, breathing with some difficulty,
the pain still in her body. She was in disbelief that she just took out that Angel. Her synch-rate must have gone through the roof--she didn't even recall having to think about moving Eva.
"Is it...over?" she gasped, stunned.
NERV Office of the Supreme Commander 9:02 PM Tokyo Standard
Hours later, once power had been again restored to NERV and Tokyo-3,
Sub-commander Fuyutsuki and his superior, Commander Ikari Gendo, sat in the latter's office, reviewing the mission report from pilots Soryu and Horaki.
"You think it was SEELE, Ikari?" Kozo inquired casually, referring to his crossword after putting away the mission debriefings.
Gendo kept a neutral face. "Plainly it was they, for only they could have pulled off cutting power. It appears they're angry."
"Is it wise to keep them like that, Ikari-kun?" the elder asked, concerned.
Things were getting far too out of hand. First the shootout, now this-
actually aiding an angel attack in order to gain intelligence! How they dared!
"Don't worry, professor," Ikari smiled cynically, pushing up his glasses as he leaned back into his soft, comfortable chair. "Soon their advantages will be torn out from under them, and they will be unable to deny their folly."
End of Chapter 6
AN: Not as long as I originally intended, but this is something to keep things going. I hope you enjoy it. As you see I made some changes. By the way, to those who were wondering, 'bakufu' refers to a 'tent government' or 'military dictatorship'. And no, you won't see 'Kazuhiko' again. And yes it was my mistake earlier ---unit 04, not 03. I'll correct it when I get the chance. Thanks for reading.
No prereader was used here.
-Kazuhiko Kazuki
Certain obligations--as well as the adoption of the NGEN project have garnered my attention. But no need to fear, Author is here. Here you go, Chapter six, enjoy. In case you wonder, yes, the first scene was written to Eva-specific music, namely, "A moment when tension breaks".
Additional note: Horaki pilots 04, not 03.
Disclaimer: I don't own this, Gainax does. Happy?
Never Look Back -
Chapter Six: Appreciation
-----------------------
Sendai area.
Shinji stood in the kitchenette of the small first floor apartment, preparing ingredients for their evening meal. It was going to be something of an extravagance, considering Shinji called for many ingredients indeed. The occasion had been both their newfound affections for each other... and not a day later Shinji came across work as an office assistant in town, for a man named Kazuhiko who worked for Bakufu Publishing Co, a no name man who wrote textbooks. Even though it wasn't glamorous, it was stable work and the company would pay him fairly for it. When he announced this to Rei, she'd been quite pleased, and demonstrated it with a satisfied smile.
"You are now able to put the past behind you. This is now truly, moving on..." She commented distractedly, looking off into the evening sky, as they waited for the meal to finish cooking. It was stir fried vegetables, and for him, takoyaki. The smell of the food was appealing and served to lift her mood further.
"Well, maybe it...it isn't all that, but something like it, right?" he supplied rhetorically. The food was almost ready. He now felt a bit more comfortable in his new surroundings, though Rei provided little conversation. Their existence at home was filled primarily with quiet moments of contentment, even if it was at opposite sides of the room.
To be honest, Shinji felt a little embarrassed about his declaration of love for Rei. Such was to be expected, its suddenness and ferocity taking him by complete surprise. He didn't even try to guess how Rei felt about it. Thus the conversation the day before had not been mentioned, or referred to. However, it functioned to bring them closer together, into a more cohesive, attached partnership.
This moment was the most fragile, in human relations. How did one know when he or she would be able to interact in a certain fashion towards another individual? It was a difficult question to provide an answer for. Shinji found himself grasping at straws as to what came next.
Rei, on the other hand, did not know what direction to even grasp in, and thus, relied on Shinji for affirmation on her course of action. This amplified the clumsiness of their conversations and dealings, but it was of the adoring, shy and hesitant kind. None of it was unbearable. Rei was acutely aware of her primary deficiency: human relations. This, however, did not daunt her. She was steadfast, for this was perhaps the single most important endeavor in her life yet.
With the subtle hints of vegetables wafting through the air, and a warm breeze entering through an open window, the room became a welcoming nest for the two transients. Shinji, with a dumb, self-satisfied smile on his face, and Rei, looking on with amused intensity, perfected the emotional mosaic of this moment in time, isolated, consequences left away from mind--never did the expression" out of sight, out of mind," fit better. All was for once, as good as he could have imagined it, and for her, better than she ever knew was possible.
As Shinji brought forth the tray of food, Rei tilted her head sideways, and inquired earnestly to Shinji while he sank to a sitting position, "Is this.
what one could call, 'happiness', Shinji?"
Taken slightly by surprise, he couldn't help but smile faintly at that.
Sometimes--no, oftentimes--Rei was quite childlike. Her childlike sense of wonder at the world she was coming to appreciate filled him with adoration. he supposed it was a typical reaction for a male to think it cute, but to him, her serene, and innocent question was amusing, even if he didn't know how to answer correctly.
"Well, I don't know, Rei-chan," he began after a thoughtful pause. "I guess if it means you're satisfied with how things are, and you want them to be that way. It's like...there's the soft energy inside you that tells you it is the way something should be."
His success in the vagueness category was surpassed only by his verbose clumsiness. Rei blinked. "I do not quite understand you, though I surmise I can compare it to something."
Shinji reddened with embarrassment at his own incompetence, smiling sheepishly. "If you say so, Rei-chan...Ittadakimasu."
And so they ate, their lives feeling that much more whole within themselves as they fumbled for that fragile, unspoken bond nascent between them, a warm mist, enfolding them in security.
-
Bishaemon no Ten no Jinja Shrine,
Kyoto.
A shot rang out in the dark of the Kyoto night, nicking the ancient doorframe of an abandoned Shinto jinja. Woodchips soared into the air from the high-powered 50 cal round, splintering the spruce into fragments. Annoyed, one Kaji Ryoji fell backwards behind the cover of a large wall, urging himself along the corner, holding the grip of his modified Glock-17 with careful pressure.
"Well, Katsuragi, looks like the were on to us." he muttered, signaling that she should get ready to make good her escape. Easing around the corner he pulled back on the trigger of the full automatic and released a spray of rounds that bounced on the gravel and dug into body armor and old wood alike, unchecked. Just as promptly, however, the defender hid again, nanoseconds before a hail of answering ordinance, and the following thunder cracks. This time a particularly large fragment was blown away.
"A .223. Well, our guests certainly aren't being shy..." Kaji mused. They began to move towards the small fence not ten feet away, rushing to it and diving right over, Misato with a suitcase and her USP 9 millimeter semi-
Automatic pistol in hand. They absconded into the foliage in hurried movements, the unidentified attackers not the least bit willing to leave their tails.
Thankfully the car was not far away, hidden by shrubs. It was a rental, and hopefully, it wouldn't get damaged. At this point though, their lives were more important than Hertz's damages or fees. They piled into the car and hit the gas to the floor. The sporty two-seat roadster took off with gusto along a dirt path that by happenstance, was obviously little-used and in ill-
repaired, making for a bumpy ride.
The gunfight lasted for a good fifteen minutes before they were able to get that far, where the car was stashed. It was originally a trip to pick up information on SEELE's intents as well as any possible divisiveness within the clandestine organization. Their informant was apparently, being sold out as men with semi-automatic machine pistols began blowing away at arcane shrine, left to its devices after Second Impact. The informant wasn't as lucky as Misato or Kaji, and didn't make it out of there. Instead, she died tossing them the suitcase of documents they'd been there to pick up.
---------
Needless to say, they'd been compromised.
They got no chase once they drove into Kyoto proper. Yet instead of returning to their hotel, they got a room at another place in town, just to make sure.
"So much for secrecy," Misato griped over a Yebisu in the hotel room, as they now poured over the documents in earnest. According to these, arrangements had been made not only to set up the Marduk Agency, as affiliated by its hundred or so dummy partnerships, including one Shannon Bio Inc, whose board of trustees included none other than Ikari Gendo, Lorenz Kihi, and Fuyutsuki Kozo. "We really blew it."
Kaji disagreed. "Considering the results of our findings. We now know that the school classroom, code seven-zero-seven, has all of the potential candidates for pilots of Evangelion units. This of course means..."
"We're all being led by the nose. But...for what? Is it the Council on Instrumentality?" she asked in reply, putting a palm flat on a set of papers.
"I don't know yet, if the class has to do with anything. But, if the pilots are all available, why of course, go after Rei and Shinji?" he proposed the question while calmly lighting a cigarette and propping it into his mouth. The smoke from the lit tobacco product wafted from before his face, entered his lungs, and was purged as he gave a deep sigh. "The truth is so hard to get to...but...we both have obligations to it, ne, Katsuragi?"
Silently eyes askance, Misato recalled the escape capsule quite vividly, and imagined the scar on her chest very accurately. Yes, they did. It would always burn within her, the need for truth.
NERV, Central Dogma
"A sick day?!" Ritsuko sputtered, incredulous. She'd just put down the results and MAGI analysis for the latest synch-ratio test scores for pilots Soryu and Horaki, when she was confronted with the news of Misato's absence. "That...is a flimsy excuse for the Director of Operations and Planning."
Maya felt the urge to apologize, and did so. "I'm sorry, sempai, but that's what she said."
Sipping from a mug of coffee, a standard NERV issue white ceramic thing,
she closed her eyes in thought. They weren't even trying to hide it from the commander that they were second-guessing him. Was there a point to it? And most of all, why did the commander allow this?
Dissatisfied, Ritsuko decided to lodge a formal complaint as project director of research and development at Project E. She picked up her phone, asked the switchboard operator to get her the commander, and waited. After a ring, the phone was picked up.
"Yes. What is it?"
Ritsuko paused. "Sir, it's Akagi. I am filing an official complaint regarding Katsuragi---"
"It can wait," and following that smooth baritone was a sharp click, and then the chilling dial tone of defeat.
Akagi Ritsuko was left wallowing in her own disgust. Surely he couldn't be serious! Holding her coffee mug in a death-grip, she fumed. "How could he...Damn him!"
Office of the Supreme Commander NERV Central Dogma
"Have our agents successfully cleared the Kyoto site of opposing entities?"
asked Gendo quietly, his unwavering stare fixed on the sub-commander.
There had been some confusion initially, when he heard of Katsuragi's disappearance, but once he heard the double-agent was involved, he supposed to himself that he could allow it. It served a dual purpose--it deflected attention away from machinations here, and also harried SEELE. He could feel the feud growing stronger. No longer did they just trade barbs, but now bullets.
The coalitions that composed the fundaments of both the Committee on Human Instrumentality and SEELE, as well as NERV were never entirely stable. Certain interests governed each, and as with any conflicting interest, actual conflicts arose. For example, the Dummy Plug system was initially kept secret from the Old Men for specific purposes of allowing NERV-
then GEHRIM to conduct research on making a disposable interface for their new Evangelion unit. However, now well-known obstacles revealed themselves and the effort at secrecy was rendered futile. Now even more fundamental differences divided them. At best, SEELE trusted Ikari's common sense, while Ikari counted on SEELE's sense of foresight.
"Yes sir, though we were unable to capture any of them alive. Trace amounts of cyanide were found in their dental cavities." Fuyutsuki reported. The entire fiasco at Kyoto was a bit appalling. He'd expected some sort of showdown with SEELE for some time now, but not like this.
"Suicide? Hmm. Now, sensei, we see how the Old Men react."
---
In the darkness, a monolith spoke.
"We cannot let them go unchecked. Let our ire be known, and let them repent. Then they will come back, and cease to bite the hand which feeds."
"For the completion of humanity!" chimed the other eleven members of the organization only known as SEELE, dropping their guise as the Committee on this matter.
Lorenz Kihi, still incensed, sat behind his 'SOUND ONLY' monolith and smiled derisively. Yes, Ikari-kun would soon understand the relationship between master and apprentice.
NERV Central Dogma Control Deck
"Alright. Procedure point 2550 reached. Over." Dr. Akagi Ritsuko announced, as she watched the camera feed from the EVA cages. Units 02 and 04 were now active, and exerting AT fields. The red and white units respectively were now ready for the test launch. As per routine, most parts of NERV's operational equipment needed to be tested not only for safety but operational status. The most vital of these were the launch systems, and namely, the most complex, the launch elevator.
"Moving to tracks one and two, ma'am." Horaki Hikari informed from within her entry plug, as Unit 04 lurched forward gracelessly, then, with better footing, easily made its way alongside Asuka's Unit 02 to track two.
"Unit 02 reporting, Dr. Akagi! I'm ready, so launch this thing so we can all go home." Asuka sighed, wishing she were doing something besides running a systems test. Unfortunately, because of some dumbkpoff the only way to test the launch tracks was by actually launching into one of the hollow ammunition-or-mech towers cleverly disguised as an armored office building. It wasn't the most…nondescript place, but measures did indeed have to be taken.
"Operator...this is Akagi. Launch, tracks one and two...now!" Ritsuko ordered. This job would normally fall under Misato, but the woman still wasn't back.
With a sharp click of releasing clamps and a whirr of motors switching mag-lev lines, the two massive Evangelions were bodily lifted off their moorings and propelled by the mag-lev platforms all the way up the route towards the surface. This caused both pilots to experience three or four g's of acceleration, quite the sensation if one wasn't used to it.
Seconds later they hit the surface with a resounding thud. Hikari checked her visuals, and saw she was inside the building. "Horaki here. Inside the launcher, system check successful for track two. Prepped for descent."
Below, in the Geofront, Ritsuko was about to give the order to lower the Evangelion units when everything suddenly went dark. For a moment, she waited for the redundant power systems to kick in...And then, to her disbelief, was left still standing in relative shadow. "What in the world?"
Looking around, she couldn't hesitate. "Power failure? Check the second and third emergency generators!"
Aoba was quick to reply, and shouted, "No use, we've got nothing working except roughly three percent of our circuits!"
"Phones are dead, ma'am!" Hyuga called out, slamming his receiver down in frustration.
"Reroute all functioning circuit energy to life support systems!" Ritsuko commanded, but was overridden when the Commander interjected.
"Belay that, Dr. Akagi. Concern yourself with protecting the MAGI." he said coolly from his vantage point on the top tier of the NERV Central Dogma command bridge. Behind him, Fuyutsuki stood stoically, lighting a candle.
"Hai!" Ritsuko relayed the order to her subordinates. "And someone,
recover those Eva units!"
Above Ground
"Damn this. I knew this test was going to take long!" Asuka complained,
and not without reason. They'd been in the entry plug an hour before they launched for the surface, now this. And their power, for some reason, was cut. "Meine Gott in Himmel, what's taking them so long?"
Hikari, inherently more patient, was taking the middle path. Yes, she was annoyed, but she couldn't do much. "Is this a recurring event, Asuka?"
"No..." Asuka admitted. In point of fact, the technicians ran a very tight ship in NERV and she was more than obliged to give credit where it was due this time. However, that modicum of peaceful praise didn't last long, as they began to feel tremors in the ground. They were small at first, nothing but a mere vibration, easily associable with the platform. However, it grew intensity until it was a rhythmic shaking, and then, a solid quake every so often.
"What the?" Asuka muttered, her power nearing the one-minute line.
Dislodging herself from the launch building restraints, she stepped out, peering around the building to see a long, multi-legged creature approaching the outskirts of the city with methodical determination. Just as quickly, she ducked behind the building. "Damn! An angel, now?"
"An Angel, Asuka? You saw one?" Hikari asked, from a few hundred meters south. "There wasn't an alert..."
"Well obviously something is wrong downstairs. We have to stop it, Hikari.
I can't raise NERV on my communications link. We should assume no orders." Asuka concluded, jaded. "It's already in the city. I'm nearing my activation limit, in twenty seconds. You're the only one that can actually do this...Good luck, okay? Don't get yourself killed."
Hikari noted the slight shame in which Asuka was speaking from. Asuka would have to let her friend, the newbie, take out the Angel on her own-
-at great risk, but without Asuka doing it--because of her S2 engine.
"Understood Asuka. Stay here in the building so you can get recovered."
Pushing back her dark brown locks, the freckled class representative gritted her teeth and took stock of her situation. There were several hundred meters between her and the Angel. NERV was directly below, and all she was armed with was a prog'knife. Better that than nothing.
Jumping from behind the cover of the building, Hikari gave the landscape a quick survey. The Angel, arachnid in shape, was closing in on the heart of Tokyo-3. This was unacceptable. Its long legs easily gave it mobility, but it lurched in such a way that it was cumbersome to attack. So it would indeed be melee.
"Unit 04, attacking!" She yelled as she began to run with the white-plated Evangelion unit. Her fleet footsteps rocked the city and made large dents in the pavement of the street she plowed through. The Angel it seemed, was single-mindedly approaching its target. However, it took notice soon after.
A leg raised itself and pointed in the direction of Unit-04 just as Hikari withdrew the prog'knife and activated it, nearly in range. Subsequently she received a kick to the chest, and was pinned to the ground. The Angel began to rove over her, pressing its advantage. Soon Hikari could see it's tearing, orange and blue eye.
Even as she suppressed a cry of agony, hot, acidic viscous liquid poured over her unit, sending sensations of pain across her arms and torso. She whimpered. But, she had to endure. Even as smoke arose from the scalding liquid, she grit her teeth, readying herself.
The same leg rose itself quickly and pounded down hard on the center of 04, causing another cry. This continued until, at last, seizing her opportunity, Hikari rolled quickly as the leg came down, avoiding it. Then, with a spur of pain-filled energy and willpower, she bull rushed the Angel from underneath, and activated the defense spikes.
The large fifteen-to-twenty foot titanium alloyed spikes tore through the Angel--whose AT field was neutralized--and stunned it. Even as the damage was dealt, it felt itself losing balance, and being toppled onto its 'back'. Not soon after a sensation of pain would be felt inside it, probably, as Horaki's prog'knife dove into the central eye portion, pushing deeper and deeper towards the core.
After a minute of frantic leg-thrashing and Hikari's agonized calls, the prog'knife finally ate away at the last layer and sawed into the S2 core of the Angel, effectively silencing it.
Slumping her unit, Hikari exhaled heavily, breathing with some difficulty,
the pain still in her body. She was in disbelief that she just took out that Angel. Her synch-rate must have gone through the roof--she didn't even recall having to think about moving Eva.
"Is it...over?" she gasped, stunned.
NERV Office of the Supreme Commander 9:02 PM Tokyo Standard
Hours later, once power had been again restored to NERV and Tokyo-3,
Sub-commander Fuyutsuki and his superior, Commander Ikari Gendo, sat in the latter's office, reviewing the mission report from pilots Soryu and Horaki.
"You think it was SEELE, Ikari?" Kozo inquired casually, referring to his crossword after putting away the mission debriefings.
Gendo kept a neutral face. "Plainly it was they, for only they could have pulled off cutting power. It appears they're angry."
"Is it wise to keep them like that, Ikari-kun?" the elder asked, concerned.
Things were getting far too out of hand. First the shootout, now this-
actually aiding an angel attack in order to gain intelligence! How they dared!
"Don't worry, professor," Ikari smiled cynically, pushing up his glasses as he leaned back into his soft, comfortable chair. "Soon their advantages will be torn out from under them, and they will be unable to deny their folly."
End of Chapter 6
AN: Not as long as I originally intended, but this is something to keep things going. I hope you enjoy it. As you see I made some changes. By the way, to those who were wondering, 'bakufu' refers to a 'tent government' or 'military dictatorship'. And no, you won't see 'Kazuhiko' again. And yes it was my mistake earlier ---unit 04, not 03. I'll correct it when I get the chance. Thanks for reading.
No prereader was used here.
-Kazuhiko Kazuki